


Straight To Oblivion

by TwistedViolets



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Drug Use, Dysfunctional Family, End of the World, Number Five is an asshole, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Multiple, Plot Twists, Reggie doesn’t die, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:08:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24617356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedViolets/pseuds/TwistedViolets
Summary: The world is ending, everyone knows and as they stare up at night looking at the all knowing universe they find they aren't content with this. Somehow, someway they have to stop it. The only name they curse on those nights is 'Vanya Hargreeves.'Will the Umbrella Academy band together to fight the apocalypse or fall apart trying to protect it? The world may never know considering it's about to cease to exist.Or- No one has powers but the apocalypse still happens.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 26





	1. The News

**Author's Note:**

> So I’ve wanted to write this story for the last year. I had originally planned to collaborate with someone to write it but quickly realized I’m not really interested in stuff like that. So I’ve finally decided to sit down and write it.
> 
> The tags will update with each chapter because I don’t want to spoil anything. I’d recommend watching them because this will be a rollarcoaster.
> 
> Also this is my first attempt to write a full story with multiple POVs so take it easy on me please. Every chapter will not have as many POVs as this one; this one is an exception.
> 
> [Sorry for any typos I swear I’ll get to them tomorrow but life has been calling today]

Vanya had been walking back from violin practice, an umbrella in one hand, her violin in the other snuggled against her chest to protect it from the rain. It's cold and with each puddle she steps in her feet are dampened and uncomfortable.

She sighs, passing a bakery she had once eaten at with her sister. Allison, perfect movie star Allison that she hadn't heard from in years aside from the birthday card she received yearly, not even written by her sister. Of course, she respects that everyone has lives to live but...she still feels so alone.

Not that she has any right to after all none of her siblings stayed together once they left the Academy. The amazing Academy full of prodigies and then her; the ordinary. Never even able to make a name as a violinist and she's been doing it for years...

_Reginald Hargreeves_

It catches her attention, the small blaring of a tv as she passes along an electronics store. The display tv turned on to a news report reporting on one of dad's great and extraordinary achievements like always except- she leaned in, peering into the glass to try and read the words at the bottom as the muffled voice keeps speaking.

_The planet discovered nearly 15 years ago by Reginald Hargreeves has begun to move through the galaxy! The previous orbit we have observed seems to have been completely broken! More on this after the break._

A commercial blares then and she draws her attention away. Nothing new there; the world is always more extraordinary than her life.

She continues on down the sidewalk with her shoes now soaked through. She sludges through the ran, passing by dirty alleyways she fights the urge to look down...always worried someday she'd find her brother face down, drugged out of his mind...just like she wrote about once.

In a book she doesn't like to think about. Even though it was all she could do at the time. At the time she...she just wanted to be seen and well, she should have known that wouldn't have worked out.

Xx

Klaus sneezes as he begins to undress. The rain pouring down his skin, causing his body to pale more than usual and his nipples were hardening from the cold biting air. He smiles anyway, slicking his hair to the side as Alex-John- some guy aims the camera at him.

"You know when you sneeze that means someone's thinking about you," Ben said as he sat on the side of the dumpster, book in hand, unaware of the cold water droplets.

"As if. It means I'm freezing my balls off," he muttered underneath his breath as he leans back against the bricks of the alleyway, shirt discarded on the dirty ground as he looks straight into the camera.

_Flash_

__

He pushes his lips out and makes a kissy face.

_Flash_

He spreads his legs, one hand over his left nipple as he gives a side-eyed glance.

"God you're beautiful," the man muttered before lowering the camera, dropping it so it hangs around his neck. "These pictures are great for my collection," he laughed, digging in his pockets from he offered a small bag of pills barely even 15.

"That's all I'm worth?" He hisses, grinding his teeth through his shivers. 

"Take it or leave it. You're not getting any younger Klaus."

He huffs and snatches the pills before stomping off. "Fuckin inflation."

"I don't think that's it." Ben deadpans as he follows behind.

"Shut up."

"Make me."

"Fuck you."

He downs all fifteen pills and everything after is a blur. He wakes up in an ambulance, electricity through his body, and laughter bubbling from his mouth. "Hell yeah, Klaus!" He high fives the EMT who begins laughing too.

Then the tv starts, a little dingy thing and all he hears is Reginald and his heart instinctively curls up in his chest and dies.

Xx

Diego scoured the area with one objective in mind. Pig tattoo.

The bar itself was loud and way too colorful for his tastes. He went through it anyway, one side to the other with his eyes scanning each face.

_He has a tattoo of a pig, one with a  
carrot out the side of his mouth._

The floor moves underneath him, the music practically carrying each movement he makes.

_He...he's bald. I...when he touched me his hands felt calloused._

A man is hunched over at the bar, pink pig tattoo on his back barely visible, no hair on his head. "And she called me a fuckin Pig! Can you believe that shit?" The man spouted, Curtis if he remembers correctly. 

"Mm sure sweetheart whatever you say," the bartender said before walking away, an uncomfortable look on her shoulders.

"Curtis?" He asked as he tapped Curtis's shoulders and he received a curt-"not me."

"Really? Because I've heard a few rumors about you...the tattoo, the receding hairline- I'd be happy to air out all your dirty laundry here if you want or we can take this outside." The man muttered something underneath his breath but ultimately stood up and followed behind him.

As soon as they were outside he slipped a blade from his side, pushed it against the man's neck in one motion, and stared him down, the man now bending just slightly on his knees in fear. "Heard you like beating woman," he whispered, inching his way closer to the man's ear. "Let's see how you like it-" he punched him as hard as he could across his cheek and the man sputtered before completely falling onto his knees. As the man collapsed he knees him, sending the man curling into himself.

He's not one for senseless violence but justice comes when justice calls. He punches a few more times, enough that he's satisfied and he's sure the man will have a black eye. Then he gets up and leaves without so much of another word.

He doesn't give out his client's name, it's part of the contract or he would have spit on the guy and said something like 'Touch Lisa again and I'm giving you a one-way ticket to the hospital.'

He slipped his blade away as he came to a coffee shop. He slipped inside, ordering a coffee before taking a far corner booth to brood. 

_Reginald-_

Yuck, his mouth tastes sour at that name.

Xx

Allison's eyes remained close as her makeup was done. She doesn't really care for this part, in fact, it's probably her least favorite part of being a movie star. She'd much rather do her own but no, they've gotta hire big named makeup artists who demand statue-like perfection.

She licks her lips, tasting the faint remains of her cherry chapstick she had on earlier that day. Claire had applied it early in the morning just before she left with Patrick.

She hates it. Hates the hole in her chest when she hears her daughter's laughter and feels her heart constrict. All she wants is her daughter and all she gets is supervised visits...because what? 

Because Patrick thinks she's crazy?

It doesn't even feel right, lying to herself like this. It's all her fault she lost Clair, she lost her love. She doesn't even know how true those things were...after all, she's hid behind her little swinging watch for so long.

Hypnosis is her drug.

_Reginald Hargreeves-_

"Can't believe people still care about him," she mutters underneath her breath, feeling the way the eyeshadow is applied a little harder. The makeup artist is not pleased with her.

Xx

Luther sat at his desk, stomach growling, and he broke a pen in his hands. He sighed, looking at his poor scribbles of the moon. A few drawn pictures because he knows how his father likes to journalize these things.

His dad will probably make a whole book about the moon and his discoveries. Of course, he hasn't actually discovered a lot but living on the moon for years has to make a good book. Drawn pictures are better over photographs, that's why they've always had theirs painted at the house.

He sits the broken pen aside and leans back, yawning.

"Master Luther?" Pogo's voice broke through the silence, a little bit of static bleeding through.

"Yeah Pogo?" He said, rubbing a hand through his hairy chest, over skin that isn't his. It's...disgusting.

He digs his full nails in, a harsh breath leaving him before the static breaks through again and he drops his hand to the side. This isn't him but it is. It's- he's got to accept it.

"Master Luther, your father has asked for your immediate return."

"Why?" He questioned, sitting up straight. Why? Why didn't his father make this call then?

"It's complicated."

"I'll be there within a few hours."

"Good Master Luther. I look forward to seeing you again."

"I could say the same thing to you, Pogo."


	2. Number Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story will follow very loosely along canon. But at the same time it’ll be vastly different but I don’t want to spoil anything hehe <3

Complicated...Complicated? This is really what Pogo considers complicated? Luther would have been down here a lot sooner had he known, had Pogo simply said 'Five is here.'

He can't even believe his eyes. It's...like a dream. Five is the same as that day he left, Academy uniform, childish youth, and god his cocky little walk.

"It seems Five has finally graced us with his presence. Took him long enough," his father muttered, watching from a distance as Five prepares a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich. Luther has no doubts that his father reamed Five out for the last six hours.

"Five?" He whispered as he watched, his chest feeling heavy, his coat suddenly not big enough to hide his disgust.

Five turns to him, barely. He side-eyes him with little recognition of him. Like...it's like he's looking down upon him with that glare his father was prone to.

"You...why?"

"Why what," Five said with distaste, slapping one half of the bread with marshmallow on the other half with peanut. "Why did I leave? Or why did I come back? What makes you think it's any of your business Luther."

Five recognizes him. He doesn't know why he thought he wouldn't it's just...well he's so different now and Five left so long ago.

Five bit his sandwich as he walked by him, walking through the space his father had previously occupied but had since abandoned. "Five-"

"I don't have time for this," Five disappeared through the front door without a single explanation more.

He- what was he supposed to do about this? His father barely acknowledged Five's return but well he couldn't just leave it at that, could he?

He made his way to the house phone before attempting to call Diego. Which is harder said than done because he doesn't remember the last time he had ever even talked to his brother. He figures though that he could worm his way through the police station for 'Umbrella Academy' business and get his number there.

Xx

Diego blew out a hot breath turning to fog in the air as holds a blade in his hand. Tossing it up in the air and then catching it; sloppy in his movements. What else is he supposed to do when his brother calls about 'Five.'

He...he didn't want to go home. He didn't want to go back to that place, at least he never planned to while his father was still kicking. Fucking Luther...it's hard to watch him rot in that place.

He continues on before stopping as he watched some homeless dude digging through the trash. This city is full of them and god, this one is so skinny. It's a wonder how many weeks he has left until he dies from pure starvation.

The homeless man removes his top half from the trash can, the skirt around his legs blows in the wind, and- it's Klaus. Fucking Klaus, another one of his siblings he can't stand to see rotting away.

"Klaus?" 

Klaus jumps before looking at him, first uncertainty, then pure bubbly happiness. "Brother dearest! I was worried I'd never see you again. I've missed those chubby cheeks," Klaus reaches out to grab his cheeks but he slaps Klaus's hands away. As if he'd let his brother baby him...

"Oh come on, Diego!" Klaus whines, pouting before turning away, wiping fake tears from his eyes. "Bet you'd let mom do that."

"Shut up."

Klaus shrugged his shoulders before attempting to walk off. He grabs his arm, stopping him. "You're coming with me."

"Excuse me?" Klaus said defensively at first, eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to take me to rehab again? How many times must I tell you there's nothing wrong with me."

"That no- we've got to visit home. Five is back."

Klaus goes slack, staring, and then he just starts laughing. "Go figure the little bastard decides to return on the day I decided to go to rehab. A shame Diego I'd really like to join you but I've got to go better myself or whatever."

"You're coming," He simply starts walking, dragging Klaus behind him easily. 

Klaus weighs nothing.

Xx

"I don't have your ca-" Vanya started but as the door opened her voice was caught up in her throat. "Five?"

Five gave a small, forced smile before a hand slips inside his right pocket. "May I come in?" He asked as if it was nothing. As if he hasn't been gone for years, literal years. He...doesn't even look sorry for abandoning them(her.)

"Yeah, yeah of course."

He doesn't look different at all. He's still just a cocky asshole- not that she's insulting him but he'd even admit that at least. He's...back.

"Would you like tea?" She whispered and he passed her with a gleaming look in his eyes. He scanned her apartment, one side to the other before sitting down on her couch. 

"Coffee and a knife, thank you."

She nodded, pouring coffee that had already cooled. Her hands were shaking, her mind was racing and before she knows it she's taking two of her anxiety medication. Anyone would be anxious in this situation, wouldn't they?

Seeing your brother you haven't seen in years? Seeing your brother that, God, half your family thought was dead. Five always said he was building a time machine but...Dad knew that they were touchy, dad knew there was a chance Five died as soon as he entered the time-stream- and still, Five went through with that ridiculous thought.

Five time-traveled to prove dad wrong and well, it looks like for once he was right. She grabs a knife from her sliver-ware drawer before bringing it and the coffee to Five.

Five takes it from her hands; stabbing the knife directly into his wrist before sliding it across his skin and- she turned away at first, pained noises leaving her lips as he remained silent before she realized she needed to stop him. She turned around to yell at him but he was holding a green blinking chip and she's caught in wonder.

"Sorry," he said offhandedly before tossing the item on the floor and smashing it into pieces. "I doubt they'll follow me due to- never mind." He grabbed the coffee from her limp hand before sipping with a little scrunch to his nose.

"I-I'll-" she hurries to the bathroom and grabs a bandage and a few alcohol wipes. She returns and sits beside him. "Can I?" 

He said nothing but offered her his wrist. "This might burn," she said as she wipes the wound with the alcohol wipe before wrapping it, all the while she feels something curling up in her and she doesn't know what it is. Uncertainty? Anger? Sadness? All three?

She doesn't know...

"What was that?"

"A tracker," he said and then he looked at her deeply gauging her reaction. She tried to stay neutral but some sort of worry must cross her face because he looks unimpressed with her.

"Sorry...I...I missed you."

He said nothing but he sits his coffee aside. 

She has so many questions but she doesn't want him to leave (again.) She won't be the reason he runs away. She couldn't stand that...at one time she had been close to him.

"Where did you go?" She whispers, hoping it's not a too imposing question.

"The future...found a lot of nothing. No people, no animals, and little reminisce of plant life."

She lets go of his wrist, breath hitching in her lungs as he looks at her so deeply, waiting for her to respond but she can't. What could she say? She doesn't want to listen, she doesn't want to know...she doesn't want what he's saying to be true.

Is he describing the end of the world?

"I barely managed to get back here alive...not for lack of effort of course. However, even if things are meant to be...I know I can't accept it."

"What? You...dad always said that time travel could make you loopy."

Five scoffed then, glaring. 

"And what? You think I'm crazy?"

"No, I- but we can't rule out that possibility I mean...maybe that wasn't a tracker. It could have been drugs or I don't know."

Five started standing and she grabbed his arm, it was all she could do to keep there. "Please don't leave again," she begged, holding tighter, her handshaking. "Please Five I didn't mean it."

Five sighs.

Xx

"Five isn't even here," Diego tapped his side in irradiation. "I wouldn't have come if I knew we were just going to discuss his phantom."

"He was here Diego. He ran away again, said he had something to do."

Diego rolled his eyes.

"You've put on some weight man," Klaus teased Luther, smiling. "Have you hit the gym lately? What's a moon gym like anyway?"

"Please Klaus, be serious this is important."

"Important? Please I have an ingrown toenail more important than this. Don't you think Five would have I don't know waited around to say hi if he had been back?"

They argued and Diego simply looked at mother. Mother who smiles at him, mother who opens her arms, gesturing for a hug. If there wasn't anyone watching he'd be in that warm embrace faster than a Beagle chasing a rabbit.

For now, he just shakes his head no and his mother goes back to cleaning.

"Master Luther is telling the truth," Pogo informed as he walked in the room, leaning heavily on his cane. "Five unfortunately left before we could appreciate his presence. Fortunately, he stayed in this timeline...so he must still be in the city."

"Well, that's great. So glad our favorite asshole is alive and well but um...what are we supposed to do with this information. Throw a party?"

Diego slapped the back of Klaus's head and received a mouthy 'Hey!' "Why did he come back?" He asks the important question no one else has asked.

Pogo looked at him then, and it was fueled with something foreign. Something cold and harsh...it's something like fear. "Well...he's come to save the world, Master Diego."

Oh...right. How many times has he been told that he's meant to save the world? What's so different about this time? Is he really supposed to believe that this time it's serious?

"What do you mean?" Luther asks Pogo but all Pogo does is shake his head.

"I can't say."

He knows that tone.

"You can't say because you don't know or you can't say because you don't think we could handle it?" His hands are around his blades again twirling them between his fingers in irritation. 

Pogo's silence means it has to be the latter. And if he knows anything then he knows his father must know too.

Klaus steals an orange from the fridge, he peals it slowly, biting in with a small moan. "Mm, end of the world- sounds great." Orange juice drips down his chin as he speaks but he doesn't seem to notice. Klaus never has any sense of self-awareness, ever.


	3. Undecided Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reggie: doesn’t die.
> 
> Family: Doesn’t get together.
> 
> Allison: barely has screen time.
> 
> Me: *Sad noises*
> 
> ~Still typo checking this~ but I’m impatient~

_Reginald Hargreeves has made no statements at the moment about the planet-_

Allison turns the radio station and a lame pop song comes on. Nothing like the childhood music she used to dance to with Klaus. On those nights when the moon shined bright and she'd do Klaus's makeup until he grinned ear to ear.

Those are nights she misses.

"Mommy?" Claire asks her, tilting her head to the side as she paints a picture. The great Umbrella Academy, or well if she squinted she can make out the faint outlines of Space Boy Giving The Horror a hug.

"Sorry...just zoned out," she whispered unable to fight the tension of the room, of the eyes on her. The social worker never fully looking away. "Mommy's just tired," she coos afterward realizing her first statement was a little dismissive.

The social worker writes something down.

Xx

The sun is setting, a red glow falls across the Academy's floor as Luther takes the long walk to his father's office. To ask an important question, to pose it. What was he really doing here? Why did his father really drag him back from the moon?

He knocked once and waited.

Waited all alone because Diego isn't interested in talking to their father and Klaus took a hard pass. And well, he can't blame them...dad can be a little intimidating sometimes but he's still their dad.

Their father always has their best interests in mind...right?

He waits.

Five minutes; ten minutes; fifteen minutes. Something is wrong. He doesn't know why, doesn't know what, but he knocks again. "Father?" He questions through the door and all he receives is a buzz.

"Dad? Can I come in?"

No answer.

He opens the door, just barely cracks it. Not interested in a lecture but also needing to know that his father is alright. It's never like his father to not at least reply.

The office fire is dying and the desk is unoccupied. He almost sighs in relief. At least his father isn't dead or something...just not there. But that begs the question, just where is his father...

His father who has said less than a sentence to him since he has been back home...after years of doing research on the moon. Years of research and blood and sweat and quiet (isolation) on the moon.

"Your father has stepped out," Mother chimes in, appearing out of thin air it seemed like. Her lips curled into a nice smile as she places a hand on his head, rubbing. "Have you gotten taller, dear?"

He smiles, tension melting from his body and of course, he gives her a nod. "This is cause for celebration! You must have eaten all your vegetables!"

He leans into her touch, the first real touch he's had in years and it's warm and soft and- he pulls away. Right, he's on a mission.

"Where did he go?"

She turned before walking into the office to begin dusting. "He had an interview to attend, sweetheart. Why did you need something?"

"No, mom."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, mother."

She looks at him for a split second longer before beginning to hum.

Xx

"Golly gosh Diego could you lighten up over there. You're negativity is affecting the taste of my orange," Klaus sputters, juice dripping down his already wet chin and on the dinner table and if Ben could get wet he probably would be.

He could live off this healthy junk. It's not like he's a real orange enthusiast but when you're starving they sure do taste like heaven. Even on the third orange he just feels energetic and you know like he's not going to die anymore of starvation.

Ah, the wonders of fruits.

"You'd be much healthier if you actually ate like this more often," Ben chimes in and he ignores him.

"Klaus you're a pig," Diego said, hands across his chest, all mucho man like.

"You're just jelly that Luther gets all daddy's attention."

Diego's eyes shift on his and if those daggers he was shooting were enough to kill well, Klaus would be dead. "I'm joking! Geese Diego, you sure are sensitive."

Another glare.

He simply laughs it off.

"I am not sensitive."

"Mm," he hums, taking a nice juicy bite of his orange. He chewed on the loud side just to be an annoyance.

"Anyway...do you think dad would notice if I...i don't know...borrowed something and never gave it back."

Diego looks like he wants to slap him or slam his own head off the table in disbelief. "Is that a yes?"

"Yeah, dad would definitely fucking notice."

And like that, as if some god wanted to play with them, their father walked by the archway and stopped at the front door to slip on his coat. He only stopped in his motions for a brief second once he saw them; clearly, this meeting had not been approved by king Reggie.

His father didn't say anything though but did send a clear glare that said something on the lines of 'Touch anything and I'll make your life a living hell,' or maybe not. Maybe he's tripping and he just has some bad history with his favorite oppressor.

He eats his orange and looks away from that terribly awful glare. He's got to get out of here; he can imagine if he's here when his father gets back he'll get one hell of a lecture about his uselessness and he's not interested. Nope, he'll pass.

Xx

Diego stands, leaving Klaus behind to do whatever the fuck Klaus does. He goes in search of his mother because he'll be damned if he doesn't at least say hi to her and apologize for missing so many mother's days.

He searches the parlor room and finds nothing. He walks back the hall, looking at old familiar walls, and then he passes the courtyard, just barely even glances out and there's a monstrosity out there of metal.

A big machine with all the beeping buttons and futuristic tech he could imagine and it's sort shaped like a pod. Fit for only one; and although he had never seen Five's time machine he'd certainly guess that is it.

Xx

"You can stay the night," Vanya tells Five as she spreads out a thin blanket on her couch. "I...I would be honored if you do."

Five sipped on his coffee that had already gone cold at that point, it must have she knows. "Um...I...I'm sorry about not believing you. You know it's just late and I think we can talk it over in the morning. Maybe we can go get breakfast?" She doesn't know why she's rambling anymore or what she's supposed to do with him.

She's...honored that he came to her...she guesses. But, now what? There are so many things she had wanted to say to him before but now they are caught up in her throat. 'Why did you leave me behind?' Is the most prominent one but she fights it.

Because she knows he only ever pretended to care about her to be rebellious toward their father.

"Good night," she said, awkwardly as she walked towards her bedroom, out of the corner of her eyes she sees Five approaching the makeshift bed she made.

She walks into her room, collapsing on her bed with a thud, and she just makes a few muffled noises into her pillow in frustration. She doesn't know what to do with herself anymore.

The world is ending...soon? And what? What's she supposed to do but panic and feel this utter sense of uselessness because she's ordinary and she can't do a thing to stop it...

She's just an ordinary girl.

...

Five slipped out of the apartment easily. Getting to the news station was the hard part. Not hard as in a difficult task but hard in the fact that he looks like a thirteen-year-old boy due to some terrible Commission belief.

Sure children are likable and exude innocence but...that doesn't help unless your undercover and well he's left those days behind.

"Sorry, no children allowed," the sectary told him and he just smiled, leaning in closer.

"Please? Reginald is my dad and-"

The sectary laughed, grinning a terribly shit-eating grin. "All of Sir Hargreeves children are grown and far too important to come here. How many times do you think I've heard that one?"

He sighed. Well, nothing he could do now...he tried playing nice. He hopped over the desk, the woman begins to scoot back but he quickly knocks her out. All it takes is pinching a nerve on the back of her neck; Reginald's training wasn't all garbage. Then he snatched her badge and just like that he has access to the entire building.

He makes his way to the third floor via elevator, each step makes him want to turn back. But he's not a coward, he's just uncertain. He had spent years convincing himself that...he had to stop the apocalypse and protect everyone.

It wasn't until recently that he realized that he...he didn't know what he wanted.

He stepped off the elevator and follows a few signs to the backstage where his father would be held. Only five minutes until that broadcast. Only five minutes until Reginald Hargreeves gives over a previously undisclosed file to the public.

Only Five minutes until the start of the apocalypse.

He scans his badge and walks backstage. A few questioning eyes are on him but he ignores them. He just keeps pushing on, glaring back at them and they look away.

Back straight, eyes focused, and deep breath. He scans his surroundings; no signs of Reginald. Just a bunch of camera people, a man holding a mic, and it looked like a TV set.

Always the best for that man.

He grasps the arm of a man walking by, pulling lightly and giving his best set of puppy eyes he smiles. "Have you seen Sir Hargreeves?" He questions with his sweetest voice.

"I believe he's in the employee lounge. I wouldn't bother him though...I'm sure he'd eat you for dinner," afterward the man leans down to be at his level which is highly insulting. "He hates children," the man whispers; probably told not to bad mouth Reginald while the man was in the building. Go figure.

He nods.

...

The lounge is not that great. It has a fridge and a couch which one Reginald Hargreeves is seated on. Back straight, cane beside him, and a journal in his hands. He's currently writing down something and honestly, Five wonders what it is.

A new discovery? The fact that he's about to ruin a life he's already buried six feet under the dirt, alive and screaming.

"Reginald," it wasn't sir, and it wasn't father. He surely hopes that Reginald knows that he isn't a kid anymore; he has to.

He's already explained too much at the house. He...he wouldn't have landed the time machine in the backyard had he realized that none of his siblings were home.

No looks from his father-Reginald-and well he didn't expect much. He's already gotten a lecture. He went out to play and never came back; he ran away and cursed the day he was born.

_What did you do Number Five? Play for a week in the future then come back to the present? What were you hoping to accomplish with this?_

He...didn't just go and play in the future. He isn't a child. He didn't go to play. He went to learn and got stuck...he didn't realize he'd find nothing.

Nothing to repair his time machine that got broken. Nothing to fuel his time machine when it sputtered. 

"Do you plan to stop me?" His father finally said, peering at him through his Monocle. 

That's it. That's the question. 

He faltered, losing just a hint of his composure as his father looked at him so deeply. So deeply that Reginald must know that he's struggling with this.

What is meant to be is meant to be...

_"Even if you went back Number Five," the handler sneared, the pipe just inches away from her mouth. "You do realize there isn't a thing you can do to stop it...even with the abilities we've granted you."_

He knows.

But...

"No," he finally said, looking away, a hand making its way into his pocket. A self-defense mechanism.

"I see," his father said and stood up, not giving him even another glance as he passed.

As the five minutes are up.

Five leans back against the wall and closes his eyes. Just what the fuck is he doing.

Xx

“Diego!” Klaus calls again, walking the halls, attempting to find his favorite brother who has a car and take him to get wafffles bacause that’s what Ben wants. “I wanna go home~” he sings although he doesn’t have a home aside from this place and well, not every home feels safe and comforting.

He finds Diego standing by the courtyard windows, leaning on them, staring out at something. “Brother dearest I would love a ride-”

“Look,” Diego said and he gestured out to a big hunk of metal. “I think it’s a time machine.”

“Oh cool...can I get that ride now?”

“Promise me you won’t touch it.”

“Me? Touch that? Never.”

Diego doesn’t look like he believes him and if he’s honest that hurts.

“Fine...” Diego said leaning away from the window. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Okie dokie.”

Xx

“Father went out,” Luther said as he passes Diego. Diego scoffs as he passes, mumbling something underneath his breath. “What was that?” Luther asked, feeling a sudden headache coming on.

“I said he probably felt disgusted looking at you.”

“Shut up,” he hissed walking away, watching out of the corner of his eyes as Diego smirk. As Diego smirked and stole all of their mother’s affections.

He feels filthy.

He wanders to the nearly bathroom, turns on the bath and sits down next to it. He feels so huge, staring at the little tub. He feels so off centered...when he remembers how he used to sit in the tub and lounge like it was nothing.

He drags a hand trough his fur...through the disgust. And he buries his face into his big hands.

His father can’t be disgusted with him...he just can’t be.

Xx

Five is gone.

She doesn't know why she expected him to stay. Maybe it was the familiarness of him...maybe that he looked the same-like he hadn't aged a day and she honestly wasn't sure how that worked. 

How long had he been gone? In his time was it a week and in their time years? Time is such a fickle thing and she's far too ordinary to get it.

She gets dressed, brushes her hair, and grabs a cup of coffee before she leaves. She figures if he's not here he must have gone...home. Right?

She makes it out of her apartment complex without any trouble from a few of the more elderly occupants. Although she adores them, sometimes they make her late for things and she has violin practice tonight.

She walks down the sidewalk, sipping on her coffee, a nervous bubble in her stomach as she finds her feet taking her back to her home. Although she doubts anyone there wants to see her...Luther has been on the moon for years and although there was a report from NASA of a returning air shuttle it couldn't have been him.

Luther wouldn't abandon his work for anything.

She continues on, a cold air ruffling her face and she regrets not grabbing a scarf to hide her away. There's a cart on the side of the road, many people surrounding it, reading a new issue of the newspaper. There are murmurs of surprise and some of discomfort.

She figures it must be an article about Allison and Patrick again. But, as she passes the cart, she catches her face on that front page.

Her, Vanya Hargreeves, on the front page of that newspaper. And as people glance up from their papers as she passes, they look at her with something unreadable.

She feels heat on her from all the whispers and glances and all she can do is keep her head down and keep walking...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pogo: Five must be here to save the world.
> 
> Five: ...


	4. The Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terrible communication; the family.
> 
> Loosely typo checked~I’ll get there more in-depth tonight probably.

Vanya didn't know what she was doing. What was she hoping to accomplish by going home? Or more accurately by standing outside of it awkwardly peering into the windows like a stalker. But well, she hadn't planned much more ahead of this stage.

Is her father home? Has he read her book? Is he angry? Oh, he must be and she's scared. She just wanted him to be proud, that's all she ever wanted but no matter how hard she tried she was always a disappointment.

Always the ordinary child...

"You've got this Vanya," she clapped her hands together, trying to summon up some courage but found the bottle was running very low. But she's doing this for Five, she's just here to look for him. Five minutes in and out, easy peasy.

She downs three of her anxiety pills just in case it isn't easy and knowing her home it's never easy. 

_Always take a different route, one more difficult from the last so you will improve because if you walk the same path, again and again it will become the only path you will know how to take in life - Reginald Hargreeves during her first awkward violin practices. Of course, like most things, she couldn't do what he wanted for her, she couldn't take any other path._

She took the same path, again and again, and now it's a struggle to even break routine.

She goes through the gate, urged on more by the glances of street goers than her own wanting. Those glares at her make her neck warm...she doesn't understand. Not that she could...it isn't like she's done anything scandalous in her life.

What in the world could that article be written about?

She knocks on the door, hand heavy, and waits. Waiting with a smile shaking on her lips, a forced gestured, a forced feeling of warmth. She tries to keep it under control but honestly, she's still stuck on Five.

The door opens and Pogo looks up at her expectingly. As if he had known she would come, and well he probably did. "Miss Vanya...I wasn't aware you'd be stopping by today," Pogo steps aside, leaning heavily on his cane. He is getting old.

She can remember when he used to chase them around the house, scolding them for skipping his reading lessons. "Please come in. It's been too long since you've been home."

She takes a few steps inside, immediately the sound of sliver against ceramic. Breakfast is being held just a room away. Just a room away her father is eating, alone. An old man whose unchanging tough love pushed those around him away.

It makes her sad in a way. She doesn't like to think about him or mom or Pogo being alone here in this house meant for much more than three. It probably creaks like no one's business and its silence has to be unnerving.

"If you'd like you could join breakfast. I'm sure master Luther misses you dearly."

She nods, although she really didn't expect to find him here. Luther...Luther practically left without saying a word. Well, she can't be mad at that, she did the same thing. But he was different, he was...always loved by everyone as the leader and then one day he disappeared from the public eye.

It was scary. One day he was there and the next he wasn't. She feared he was dead for a moment, for a week at least, but then all of a sudden NASA released a statement that spaceboy had finally reached his dream. They let him colonize the moon.

"I doubt he does..." she whispered, taking a step towards the archway, into the dining room that she knows houses chairs from her childhood. Chairs that held every boring memory reliever her siblings used. From Diego carving the wooden armrests to Klaus rolling blunts...

"He...he won't hold it against you forever."

"I...no. I don't want to face him," after what she did, after what she wrote, how could she. "I'm just here to see if Five stopped-I should back up shouldn't I- I mean Number Five is back. He...he visited me." 

Pogo nods as she speaks, one hand over the other on his cane as he leans on it. "He did come back...as your father predicted he would. Although he was...different from how we predicted he would be."

She wants to ask what, but it isn't her place. It's never her place. "Oh...so he isn't here now?"

"I'm afraid not Miss Vanya but I'm sure he'll be back eventually...so if you'd like to wait here. You're welcome to."

She wants to sigh but she doesn't. Pogo just went around in an entire circle in some lame attempt to get her to bond with her sibling- with Luther. What is she supposed to do? Apologize?

She probably should. She knows but...at the time it was all she could do. It was all she could do to be extraordinary, to be something, to be...heard, even if just for a moment.

"Thank you," she inhaled, taking another step towards the arch that seems so far away. Too big, too vast, too far. She takes three more steps and she's there, peering inside so very gently.

There's Luther, oversized coat on, something he's never worn before, and he looks...bigger. Not that she means that in a negative way but he's always watched his figure religiously so it's just a surprise.

Her father is nowhere to be found, which she supposes is a relief, but also sad if she considered that he probably ate his meals alone then. Uninterested in attempting to hold group meal times when he only had one child left.

"Luther?" She said, whispered so softly, and Luther stopped, mid spoonful of cereal to his mouth, to look at her. Eyes gleaming with uncertainty.

He slips his spoon back into his bowl. "First Five comes out of the woodworks and then you? Must be the water," Luther mumbled with a glare at his cereal before something like a smile crossed his lips. Acceptance, a false sense of warmth, a mask she has mastered as well.

"It's good to see you," he said and of course she smiled back.

"Good to see you too."

Xx

"So here's the thing," Klaus said and of course Diego braced himself for the whole load of excuses that was about to come from Klaus's mouth. The cafe's music sings on in the background, too happy considering Klaus just ordered six donuts and has not a single dime to pay with.

What a load of shit.

He just wanted to go home, get some sleep, alone. ALONE. But well, he ended up with Klaus on his couch complaining every three minutes about a sharp object he rolled onto and it was awful.

Just godawful.

He barely got two hours of sleep so thank god for coffee.

"I had money- you see- but then I fell in the bathroom and then it slipped out of my pocket into the toilet and I accidentally flushed it. So..."

"Sounds like a sob story."

Klaus opens his mouth to say something else, probably protest his accusations but he stops, his eyes drawn away. "I'd like a coffee, Black please," the voice said, and when he followed it he found Number Five at the bar.

Number Five like he remembers.

"Well now what do we do about that?" Klaus asks, shoving a cream donut in his mouth, mumbling something incoherent afterward.

What to do indeed...

Number Five sips on his coffee, a smile etching across his lips before he peers over at them, at first nothing crosses his face, no recognition, nothing. But then a second glance and Five is smiling at them.

Five steps off his stool before wandering over to them, easily pushing Klaus over to slide into his spot. "Don't gotta be so rude about it," Klaus mumbled rubbing his arm. "Can't you say 'hey my favorite bros can I please sit here with you?' Is that so hard?"

"Favorite? Whatever gave you that impression?"

Klaus narrows his eyes.

Five sips his coffee. Black, like death, or perhaps like Eudora used to drink on those late-night cases. Before, when they were a thing but not really a thing because she refused to call it that.

"Have you guys seen the news yet?" Five asks, and it's a strange question really. He expected, hey why do you wear so much leather or hey why is Klaus wearing a skirt? He expects maybe concern, apologies, something.

But instead, Five doesn't even seem too upset that he abandoned them and well, that's to be expected he supposed because Five left on purpose.

"No," Klaus said offering Five a donut which Five quickly declined. "Why? Did someone die?" Klaus asks, head tilted, his legs crossing.

Ugh.

"Never mind then," Five said, sipping on his coffee like it was nothing. "The world is ending soon," he said afterward as a thought, as if it wasn't important.

"What?" He hissed, the blades on his side digging in when he leans in. Sure hearing Pogo say it was one thing but Five? It's a whole different ball field.

"Good," Klaus muttered, licking icing off his fingers. "I was hoping to get out of that therapy meeting next week."

"If you want to know more feel free to come with me. Home, at this point, has all the answers or none at all who, who can say...but I'm pretty sure Reginald will tear apart my Time Machine if I leave it there too long."

Xx

Claire wore the tutu through the house with a swing in her hips. An 'I'm too cute and you can't stop me.' It was ridiculous the first three minutes and even more so the last four hours.

Patrick thinks it's the cutest thing since she lost that tooth and wrote a letter to the tooth fairy. She guessed if she squinted she thinks it's cute too. She does, but somehow, someway, deep down she knows she can make it stop and that drives her mad.

"Don't run in the house," she yells to Claire who yelled something back to her. It wasn't clear what.

Patrick, in the kitchen making dinner, makes no comment. They're trying to make it work for her. They are but- it's not easy. It isn't kiss and makeup, its kiss, and then stare at each other awkwardly while they hope Claire doesn't think it's weird.

She just wants more contact with Claire, not these forced social visits. Patrick said he'd try- as long as they stayed six feet away and she left her pocket watch in her car.

She obeyed.

She sits on the couch, her voice in her throat, flickering through the television channels when something flickers on she didn't expect. On the news, her sister's face is visible.

Vanya Hargreeves...

_Last night was the first time in decades since the planet's first discovery that its discoverer had made any comments. It has come into public light through a previously undisclosed file that the planet's name is Vanya based off of Reginald Hargreeves's file which claimed that Vanya Hargreeves his previously non-included child of the Umbrella Academy is his most promising child. It is the first time Vanya Hargreeves has been in the public eye since the release of her book. More on this after the break._

The most promising child? Vanya? Her father really said that? Their father?

She turns off the television. 

She's happy for Vanya. She is. But also she feels that familiar bitter salt-forming. 

jealousy is a terrible drug.


End file.
